Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 20,360 Shares of Essential Utilities Inc. $WTRG

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 631,393 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,360 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.22% of Essential Utilities worth $25,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Essential Utilities during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essential Utilities by 111.1% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTRG has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Essential Utilities from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Argus upgraded shares of Essential Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Essential Utilities from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essential Utilities in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.80.

Essential Utilities Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE WTRG opened at $39.39 on Tuesday. Essential Utilities Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.10 and a 1 year high of $42.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.73 and its 200 day moving average is $38.79.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.07). Essential Utilities had a net margin of 21.82% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $861.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essential Utilities Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc, formerly known as Aqua America, is a publicly traded water and natural gas utility holding company. Through its regulated water and wastewater subsidiaries, the company provides essential water services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. In addition, Essential Utilities delivers natural gas distribution services in Pennsylvania through its Peoples Gas subsidiary, offering integrated utility solutions under a unified corporate framework.

The company traces its roots to the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, founded in 1886 to serve growing communities outside Philadelphia.